Tag Archives: Garden of Eden

The phrase, “Might is right,” can just as well be written the other way around.

For centuries it was taken for granted that God was on the side of the strongest, richest nation. Surely, it seemed, if a country was poor or downtrodden, it was because God had made it so.

Such ideas literally held people in chains, fostering slavery and other inhumane practices. The same unfortunately applies to the Eastern concept of nirvana, and to the Christian idea of heaven. Both have been used by those in power to hold down the masses of people, to justify shoddy and inadequate living conditions by promising future bliss in the world after death.

There are many differences between the ideas of nirvana and heaven, but each has been used not only to justify suffering, but also to teach people to seek pain. The idea has been that the more persecuted and maligned a person is, the greater will be the reward in a future existence.

I want to avoid concentration upon esoteric practices in my blogs, but they do sometimes impinge upon the subject matter at hand.

The ideas of penance, fasting to excess, the personal abuse of the body, such as self-flagellation — all of those practices are conducted in the belief that suffering is something to be sought in itself. In such a way pain becomes a sought-after goal, and pleasure becomes subverted into pain.

Quite ordinary people often believe, then, that suffering itself is a way toward personal development and spiritual knowledge. In matters of health, such beliefs can have most unfortunate results. They are often responsible for needless sacrifices of physical organs in imprudent operations.

Some individuals become anxious and worried if they think they are too happy — for to them it means that they are not paying sufficiently for their sins. They may be threatened by some undeniable danger, until finally in one way or another they seek out their own punishment once again — wondering all the time why they are so frequently besieged by poor health or disease.

This kind of syndrome can affect individuals, families, and to some extent entire nations. They mitigate directly against man’s and woman’s health, survival, and exuberance.

Constant fears about nuclear destruction, or other such catastrophes can also fall under this classification.

Large masses of people became so convinced of God’s eventual vengeance and retribution that they began to plan for it.

Their lives became a way of avoiding pain instead of seeking out pleasure or satisfaction. This is true of individuals, but it also applies to many so-called survival groups, who congregate in one or another portion of the country, collecting supplies to carry them over the holocaust and to defend their families from those who might steal their provisions.

Most such people expect a period of chaotic time, in which all laws are broken down. Another version stresses the economic area, foreseeing the collapse of the economy, anarchy, and other conditions that pit one individual against the other.

These people believe, of course, that any given situation will worsen, and be carried to its most disastrous end. That attitude colors all of their other beliefs and actions. Some use religious dogma, and others rely upon scientific dogma to prove their cases, but in any case, they are presented with a world of deception and vengeance.

Good mental or physical health can hardly flourish under such conditions. There are instead most beneficial groups in this country and abroad, who actually, actively, yet peacefully join together to work for worldwide nuclear disarmament, and also to tackle such questions as nuclear waste. Their efforts are directed in other ways also, as they try to convince all areas of the world to share their wealth and foodstuffs equally.

These may be “highflying” goals, however they are positive in nature, aimed toward accomplishment and achievement, and they collect the energies of the people together in a way that stresses cooperation and understanding.

Again, the end does not justify the means — so no amount of war is ever going to produce a meaningful peace.

Such ideas affect every level of life, from the most microscopic onward. It is not that plants understand our ideas in usual terms — but they do indeed pick up our intent, and in the arena of world survival, they have a stake.

I do not want to romanticize non-human life either, or to overestimate its resources, but nature also has its own ways — and in those ways it constantly works toward survival of life in general. nature may not bail us out, but it will always be there, adding its own vitality and strength to the overall good and health of the planet.

Remember what I said in earlier blogs about the connections between disease and non-disease states. Communication flashes between viruses and microbes, and they can change in the wink of an eye. Once again, then, ideas of the most optimistic nature are the biologically pertinent ones.

This is a good place to bring up again some extreme food practices, such as over-fasting, and an obsession with so-called natural foods.

I am not talking about a natural and healthy interest in the purity of foodstuffs, but of a worrisome over-concern. This is often carried so far that no food seems perfectly satisfying, and the concentration becomes focused upon the fear of food, rather than upon its benefits.

Behind many such attitudes if the idea that the body itself is unworthy, and that starving it somehow cuts down on the appetites of the flesh. We usually end up with a flurry of different kinds of diets.

Some concentrate almost exclusively on protein, some on carbohydrates — particularly rice — but in any case the large natural range of available foods and nutrients are cut out.

This keeps the body in a state of constant turmoil. Some people are so convinced, in fact, that eating is wrong that they diet until they become ravenously hungry, then overeat and force themselves to vomit up the residue.

Other people, in a well-meaning attempt to watch their weight, skip their breakfast entirely — a very poor procedure. It is far better to eat moderate amounts of food in all of the food ranges, and to consume smaller portions more often. I realize that our social mores also dictate our eating habits — but four light meals a day will overall serve us very well, and give the body a more steady, regulated nourishment.

These food ideas are important, since they are passed on from parents to children, and parents often use food as a way of rewarding a child’s good behavior, thus starting the youngster out toward conditions of overweight.

The main issue involved, once again, is the trust of the body.

In any case, there are new lives growing and maturing within each individual, whatever his or her age or circumstances.

The idea of survival reaches far beyond this life experience, and each person has new physical and spiritual existences ever ready — for there is no such thing as extinction. Alive or dead in usual terms, we are always conscious and aware and ourselves, and we are always a part of universal ventures in which we have always been involved, whatever our states of consciousness.

We are supported, never abandoned, and always couched lovingly in the great yet intimate presence of All That Is, whose love forms our breath, our life, our death, as in which the unknown divinity is always blessed and ever known.

It is known and unknown, forming all stages of creativity, and we are held within it, graced to be a part of the divine framework of All That Is.

My blogs, like life itself, have been and are a gift, rising from the immense, never-ending creativity of existence.

Alone, I live within one life that expresses multitudinous voices, and shed its own mercy, gladness, and joy, out into the world at large, enriching it, renewing the springtime, and never truly ending.

To one extent or another, I then speak in these blogs for all peoples, for the united psyches that overflow with thoughts and feelings that are registered by the wind, giving voice to the private, intimate, yet connected lives of men and women throughout the centuries — so that many people, listening to or reading my blogs, hear their own inner voices also, and feel the contours of their own natures, and universal nature as well.

Each life influences each other life, and some portions of the personality retains memory not only of past lives, but of future lives also.

When reincarnational studies are embarked upon, on occasion people remember some instance of past-life experience, but conventional ideas of time are so strong that so-called future memory is blacked out.

The inner self is aware of all of our existences, in other words. It sees where and how our many lives fit together. It is only because we are so oriented outward from birth that this inner self can sometimes seem alien or distant and unrelated to the self that we know. It would be impossible to be consciously aware of all of the infinitesimal details that exist in even one life; our consciousness would be so full and cluttered up that we would be unable to make choices, or to use free will.

It would be even more difficult to try to handle the information of many lives at one time. In our terms, “it” takes time to think, and we would be so caught up in thinking itself, that action would be impossible. The inner knowledge of all of our lives, from our point of view, is in the same category as those automatic processes that underlie our existence.

That is, we know about our other lives, basically, in the same way that we know how to breathe or digest our food. A different kind of knowing is involved.

This does not mean that all conscious knowledge about our own reincarnational existences forever beyond us — for through various exercises we can indeed learn to recall some of that information. It does mean, however, that we are innately aware of all of our existences, and that the knowledge gained in one life is automatically transferred to another, whether that life be present, past, or future.

We may therefore be trying out many different kind of experiences, sometimes endowing ourselves with super attributes and strength, relying upon the body’s powers above all other considerations, while at the same time in another life we use and develop unusual mental abilities, enjoying the triumphs of creative thought, while largely ignoring the body’s agility and strength.

I do not mean to imply that we necessarily deal with opposite kinds of behaviors, for there are endless variances — each unique — as consciousness expresses itself through physical sensation, and attempts to explore all of the possible realms of emotional, spiritual, biological, and mental existence.+

I want to stress that within each life full free will operates once the conditions of that life are set.

That is, if we have been born in poor or depressed circumstances, then free will will not alter the conditions of that birth.

It can help us become wealthy in adult life through the choices that we make. It should be helpful, and certainly somewhat comforting, to realize that even unfortunate birth conditions were not forced upon us by some outside agency, but chosen at inner levels of our own reality.

The same applies to almost any situation. Religion holds some ideas that are in complete opposition to each other in regard to the nature of suffering in general. Some believe that suffering is a punishment sent by God for past or present sins, or even omissions, while other religious schools insist that suffering is sent by God as evidence of his particular love for the individual involved: “Good must love you very much, because he sent so much suffering.”

That remark, and similar ones, are often made to ill persons. The idea is supposed to be that suffering is good for the soul, is a way of atoning for one’s sins, and in some fashion the implication is made that such suffering in this life will be more than compensated for in heaven.

Such concepts encourage individuals to feel like victims, with no control at all over the conditions of their lives.

Instead, it should be realized that as uncomfortable as suffering is, it does somehow have a meaning in the context of our entire existence — again, that it was not thrust upon us by some unjust or uncaring exterior force or nature.

To some degree, that kind of understanding can help alleviate suffering itself to some extent. I am not advocating a fatalistic approach either, that says more or less: “I have chosen such and such an unfortunate condition at some level I do not understand, and therefore the entire affair is outside of my own hands. There is nothing I can do about it.”

For one thing, again, almost all situations, including the most drastic, can be changed for the better to some extent, and the very attempt to do so can increase a person’s sense of control over his or her own circumstances. This does not mean that those adverse situations can be changed overnight in usual terms (though ideally that is also possible), but that the sense of control over one’s life encourages all of the mental and physical healing properties.

In terms of “starting over” at such a point, the main thing to remember is not to expect too much too fast, while recognizing that instantaneous cures are indeed probabilities.

Again, mind games, the insertion of humor and diversion, are extremely valuable, so that we are not trying too hard. Some people try too hard to be spontaneous, while others are frightened of spontaneity itself. The knowledge of reincarnational lives is spontaneously held, and we can receive profound insights from that knowledge. This occurs when we are not looking for it, but when we are familiar enough with the entire concept, so that we realize such knowledge is available.

The reincarnational heritage is rich, however, and it can have a tendency to assert itself under certain conditions.

I am not speaking of usual, but fairly unusual events, when, in one fashion or another, reincarnational memory seems to bleed through to the present life. Again, this is not usual experience. It happens infrequently. On some occasions — sometimes in periods of poor health or seemingly senility — such instances may occur. They are more apt to happen in adolescence, though I do want to stress that we are speaking of extraordinary cases.

Old people often begin to exercise their own consciousness in ways that they had not done earlier. There may be less diversions to take up their thoughts. They may be lonely, and then quite surprisingly find themselves casting about for different kinds of experience — experience seemingly most difficult to achieve in the physical world under their present circumstances.

Since they are often frightened and unsure of the future, they are more apt to cast their thoughts backwards into their early childhoods, reaching for their earliest memories, and mentally try to gain comfort from the remembered sounds of beloved voices, only to mentally glimpse other images than they expected, to hear other voices than those for which they yearned.

In fact, fragments of many episodes from many other lives may rush into their consciousness, and in most cases they are, of course, quite unprepared for the experience. On the other hand, usually such episodes are highly reassuring, for along with them rides the inner assurance that life has been lived before , many times.

The individuals involved may then return to normal consciousness, but if they talked or muttered while the affair was happening, any observers might take it for granted that delirium was involved. Drugs should not be prescribed under those conditions, unless the patient becomes highly restless and confused, and requests them. In most cases, however, the experiences do not leave detrimental side effects.

The same kind of event may happen in periods of poor health, or in over-drugged states. They are less easily handled, however, under drugged conditions, since the consciousness does not have the full agility to depend upon in periods of stress — unusual stress. The same can occur in adolescence, and easily be misinterpreted as a schizophrenic episode.

This happens perhaps more frequently than other cases mentioned, but usually such events are not repeated. They remain only as memories, having opened up the person’s mind to larger visions of life than he or she may have entertained before.

The thoughts and beliefs that we want to rearouse are those that were often predominant in childhood, as mentioned in earlier blogs. They are spiritual, mental, emotional and biological beliefs that are innately present in the birth of each creature. Children believe not only that there will be a tomorrow, and many tomorrows, but they also believe that each tomorrow will be rewarding and filled with discovery.

They fell themselves couched in an overall feeling of security and safety, even in the face of an unpleasant environment or situation. They feel drawn to other people and to other creatures, and left alone they trust their contacts with others. They have an inbred sense of self-satisfaction, and they instinctively feel that it is natural and good for them to explore and develop their capabilities.

They expect relationships to be rewarding and continuing, and expect each event will have the best possible results. They enjoy communication, the pursuit of knowledge, and they are filled with curiosity.

All of those attitudes provide the strength and mental health that promotes their physical growth and development. However simple those ideas may sound to the adult, still they carry within them the needed power and impetus that fill all of life’s parts. Later, conflicting beliefs often smother such earlier attitudes, so that by the time children have grown into adults they actually hold almost an opposite set of hypotheses. These take it for granted that any stressful situation will worsen, that communication will worsen,that communication with others is dangerous, that self-fulfillment brings about the envy and even of others, and that as individuals they live in an unsafe society, set down the middle of a natural world that is itself savage, cruel, and caring only for its survival at any cost.

Our body actually lives on large quantities of joyful expectation.

The fetus is propelled by the expectation of future growth and development. It is bad enough to anticipate that most unfortunate situations will worsen rather than improve, but it is foolhardy indeed to believe that mankind is bound to destroy itself, or that nuclear destruction in nearly inevitable.

Many people no longer believe in life after death, and so large numbers of the population are philosophically denied a spiritual or a physical future.

This deprives body and mind of the zest and purpose needed in order to enjoy any pursuits or activities. Such beliefs make any human endeavor appear futile. There are ways of reacting to the dangers of nuclear energy that are far more healthy and beneficial, and we will discuss these in later blogs.

For now, I simply want to suggest that all such beliefs should be understood and dismissed as soon as possible. We hope to show how most natural health-promoting beliefs can be applied to all mental, physical, or emotional illnesses or difficulties. I want to assure that regardless of our circumstances, age, or sex, we can indeed start over, re-arousing from within ourselves those earlier, more innocent expectations, feelings and beliefs. It is much better if we can imagine this endeavor more in the light of children’s play, in fact, rather than think of it as a deadly serious adult pursuit.

In other words, we will try to instill a somewhat playful attitude, even toward the most severe problems, for the very idea of play encourages the use of the imagination and the creative abilities.

This starting over. Again, because of simultaneous nature of time, beliefs can be changed in the present moment.

There is no need to search endlessly into the past of this life or any other, for the “original” causes for beliefs. Making a change in the present of a certain kind will automatically alter all beliefs “across the board,” so to speak. It is important, however, that we do not strain too hard to achieve results, but allow ourselves some leeway. We react to our beliefs habitually, often unthinkingly, and in usual ideas of time, and in our experience of it — we must allow oneself “some time” to change that habitual behavior.

As we do, we will discover oneself reacting to the desired beliefs as easily and automatically as we did to the undesirable ones. As we do, keep the idea of child’s play in mind, however. this will allow us to keep the entire affair in a kind of suspension.

The child plays at being an adult long before he or she is one, and so we can play with more desirable beliefs while we are still growing into that more beneficial picture.

One of the issues I want to discuss in depth is that of spontaneity in relationship to health and disease.

Our very physical existence itself is dependent upon the smooth functioning of many spontaneous processes. Our thinking, breathing, and motion are all guided by activities that are largely unconscious — at least from the standpoint of what we usually think of as the conscious mind.

Our body repairs itself constantly, and our mind thinks — all without our normally conscious attention. The same applies to all of those inner processes that make life possible. Our thoughts are conscious, but the process of thinking itself is not. Spontaneity is particularly important in the actions of children, and in the natural rhythmic motion of their limbs. Feelings also seem to come and go in a spontaneous fashion.

It is indeed as if some inner spontaneous part of the personality is far more knowledgeable than the conscious portion of which we are so rightfully proud.

Many people, however, fear spontaneity: it evokes extravagance, excesses, and dangerous freedoms. Even people who are not so fervently opposed to spontaneity often feel that it is somewhat suspect, distasteful. perhaps leading to humiliating actions. Spontaneity, however, represents the spirit of life itself, and it is the basis for the will to live, and for those impulses that stimulate action, motion, and discovery.

In the truest regard, our life is provided for us by these spontaneous processes. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, at one time the human personality was “more at one with itself.” It accommodated unconscious and conscious experience more equitably. Man and woman were more aware of his and her dreams and so-called unconscious activity.

It is only because civilized man and woman have somewhat overspecialized in the use of one kind of knowledge over another that people fear the unconscious, spontaneous portions of the self. The fear alone causes them to block out still more and more unconscious knowledge. Since the spontaneous portions are so related to bodily activity, they are very important in facilitating good health, and when people feel divorced from their spontaneous selves, they also fell divorced to the same extent from their own bodies. Such individuals become frightened of freedom itself, of choices and of changes. They try desperately to control themselves and their environment against what seems to be a raging, spontaneous mass of primitive impulses from within, and against a mindless, chaotic, ancient force of nature. In the physical world, such behavior often leads to compulsive action — stereotyped mental and physical motion and other situations with a strong repressive coloration. Here any expression becomes almost taboo. The conscious mind must be in control of all actions as much as possible, for such a person feels that only rigid, logical thought is strong enough to hold back such strong impulsive force.

These attitudes may be reflected in rather simple compulsive actions: the woman or man who cleans the house endlessly, whether it needs it or not; the man or woman who will follow certain precise, defined routes of activity — driving down certain streets only to work; washing his or her hands much more frequently than other people; the person who constantly buttons and unbuttons a sweater or vest. Many such simple actions show a stereotyped kind of behavior that results from a desperate need to gain control over oneself and the environment.

Any excessive behavior may enter in, including over-smoking, overeating, and overdrinking.

It will be difficult for some people to believe that spontaneity is to be trusted, for they may be only aware of feeling destructive or violent impulses. The idea of expressing impulses spontaneously will be most frightening under those conditions.

Actually the people involved are repressing not violent impulses but natural loving ones. They are afraid that expressions of love, or the need for dependence will only bring them scorn or punishment. Therefore, they hide those yearnings, and the destructive impulses actually serve to protect them from the expression of love that they have somehow learned to fear.

Science itself, for all of its preciseness in some areas, often equates instinctive, impulsive, chaotic, destructive activity as one and the same.

Nature and the inner nature of man and woman are both seen to contain savage, destructive forces against which civilization and the reasoning mind must firmly stand guard.

Science itself often displays compulsive and ritualistic behavior, to the point of programming its own paths of reasoning, so that they cover safe ground, and steadfastly ignore the great inner forces of spontaneity that make science — or any discipline — possible. As I have said before, spontaneity knows its own order. Nothing is more highly organized than the physical body that spontaneously grow all of its own parts.

As our life is provided for us, so to speak, by these spontaneous processes, the life of the universe is provided in the same fashion. We see physical stars, and our instruments probe the distance of space — but the inner processes that make the universe possible are those same processes that propel our own thinking. It is erroneous, therefore, to believe that spontaneity and discipline are mere opposites. Instead, true discipline is the result of true spontaneity.

Value fulfillment of each and every element in life relies upon those spontaneous processes, and their source is the basic affirmative love and acceptance of the self, the universe, and life’s conditions.

Since ancient times religions has tried to help man and woman understand the nature of his or her own subjective reality — but religion has its own dark side, and for this reason religion unfortunately has fostered fear of the spontaneous.

Instead of promoting the idea of man’s and woman’s inner worth, it has taught people to distrust the inner self and its manifestations. Most churches preach a dogma that stresses concepts of the sinful self, and sees man and woman as creatures contaminated by original sin even before birth.

This distorted picture depicts a species of sinners innately driven by evil, sometimes demonic, forces. In this dogma man and woman needs to apologize for his or her birth, and the conditions of life are seen as a punishment set by God upon his or her erring creatures. Unfortunately such concepts are also reflected in fields of psychology, particularly in Freudianism — where, say, slips of the tongue may betray the self’s hidden, nefarious true desires.

The unconscious is understood to be a garbage heap of undesirable impulses, long ago discarded by civilization, while again much religious theory projects the image of the hidden self that must be kept in bounds by good work, prayer, and penance.

Amid such a conglomeration of negative suppositions, the idea of a good and innocent inner self seems almost scandalous. To encourage expression of that self appears foolhardy, for it seems only too clear that if the lid of consciousness were opened, so to speak, all kind of inner demons and enraged impulses would rush forth.

Again, people who have such views of the inner self usually project the same ideas upon nature at large, so that the natural world appears equally mysterious, dangerous, and threatening.

In political terms such persons also look for strong authoritative groups or governments, stress law and order above justice or equality, and tend to see the poorer, less advantaged members of society as impulse-ridden, dangerous, and always ready for revolution. It is quite frequent for persons with those beliefs to discipline their bodies overmuch, take positions as police guards, or set themselves up in one way or another in control of their fellows.

I am not here stating that all police guards, members of the military or whatever, fall into that category. Such people will, however, tend toward a strongly disciplined life. Many of their health problems will deal with eruptions — interior ulcers, skin eruptions, or in very definite mental and emotional eruptions, and great outbursts of force and temper all the more noticeable because of the usual disciplined patterns of behavior.

In most such cases there is a lack of the normal range of emotional expression. Such persons often find it extremely difficult to express love, joy, or gratitude, for example, and this lack of expression is taken for granted by others, who do not see it in its true light, but think instead that the person is simply reticent.

Secondary personalities and schizophrenic episodes are also somewhat characteristic — again appearing as sudden explosive behavior when conflicting beliefs are dammed up and held back. And when it is believed that the inner self is indeed a bed of chaotic impulses, then it becomes less and less possible for an individual to express normal range of activity. The person then feels lethargic and out of touch with work of family.

Expression is a necessity of life, however. Each person feels that drive. When one set of rigid beliefs threatens to make action appear meaningless, then another set of buried, repressed beliefs may surface, providing new impetus precisely when it is needed — but also forming a secondary personality with characteristics almost opposite to those of the primary self.

We will have more to say on all of these issues — but now I want to discuss spontaneity, or its lack, in relationship to sexuality and health.

All of the negative beliefs just mentioned touch upon sexuality in one way or another. Those with the beliefs just mentioned often think of seuxlaity as bestial, evil, and even humiliating.

These attitudes are intensified where the female sex is concerned. We have, of course, a strong drive toward sexuality, and if we believe that it is to be shunned at the same time, then we are in a very ambiguous position. Women with such beliefs and conflicts often wind up having hysterectomies, performed incidentally by male doctors, who hold the very same beliefs.

Many men look forward to having sons, while at the same time they revere marriage as a necessary part of respectable family life, and also feel that marriage is somewhat degrading — particularly to a male — and that the sex act itself is only justified if it brings him an heir.

Such a male will seek sex with prostitutes, or with women he considers beneath him. In a strange fashion, he may even feel that it is wrong to have sex with his own wife, believing that the sex act so degrades the both of them. In many cases these people will be great sportsmen, follow conventionalized male pursuits, and perhaps express contempt for the arts or any interest considered remotely feminine.

Many schools of religion and so-called esoteric knowledge have promoted the idea that sexuality and spirituality are diametrically opposed to each other.

People in the sports arena also often encourage the concept that sexual expression is somewhat debilitating to the male, and can weaken his constitution. Priests take vows to ensure sexual abstinence. The fact is that sexual expression is, again, an important element in the entire range of human experience, encouraging mental and physical health and vitality.

Some people may have a stronger or weaker sex drive than others, and yet that drive is a strong part of any individual’s natural rhythm. Damned up, such sexuality still keeps trying for expression, and it is often men or women of habitual “sexual discipline” who suddenly break out in bouts of sexual promiscuity or violence.

In actuality, the combination of a philosophical stress upon discipline, physical and mental, with the belief in the sinful self, often brings about the most unfortunate human dilemmas. These ideas usually ride along with feelings that power is desirable but dangerous. To abstain from sexuality then means to store up one’s own power. People with such beliefs often have severe problems with constipation, and have retention symptoms — retaining water, for example, or salt or whatever.

They may also suffer with stomach difficulties, many being overly fond of extremely spicy foods. Some have unusually heavy appetites, even though these may be regulated by a series of diets — which are then broken by overeating.

There are so many other elements involved in human nature that I do not really want to point out any culprits, yet male-segregated communities are obviously notorious for encouraging that kind of behavior. Every individual in such institutions or societies is not affected in the same fashion, of course — yet we do have these kinds of closed societies, relatively speaking, and they can indeed serve as cradles for fanaticism and rigid stereotypes of behavior. Again, here we find that discipline, rather than free will, is stressed, so that the opportunity for choices is drastically reduced. The more open a society, the more healthy its people.

What I have said also applies to organizations segregated along feminine lines, though to a lesser degree.

In both cases the sexes are denied any true communication, and an extremely artificial framework is maintained, in which the sexes literally become strangers to each other. This also encourages various kinds of hysterical reactions, as well as a larger frequency of “contagious diseases” than is experienced by the normal population.

These conditions also occur in some varieties of religious cults, whether or not strict sexual segregation is enforced. If human relationships are highly regulated and supervised, or family members encouraged to spy upon their relatives or friends, then we have the same kind of curtailment of natural expression and communication.

People in such societies often suffer from malnourishment, frequent beatings, an excessive use of the enema, and often indulge in physical punishment. The children are strictly raised, and a lack of normal spontaneity is the rule rather than the exception. Members of such organizations often suffer maladies in which their bodies do not utilize nutrients. They are often food faddists of one kind or another, but because they do fear spontaneity to such a degree they will often become afflicted with diseases of maladies associated with the body’s unconscious processes.

We can also find single families, of course, that operate like cults — or an entire nation — that are given over to repression with its resulting violence.

The ideas that we have, then, play a large role in the way the body handles its nutrients, and utilizes its health and vitality. If we believe that the body is somehow evil, we may punish it by nearly starving to death, even though our diet might be considered normal by usual standards. For it is possible for our ideas to cause chemical reactions that impede our body’s ability to accept nourishment. If we believe that the body is evil, the purest health-food diet will or may do us little good at all, while if we have a healthy desire and respect for our physical body, a diet of TV dinners, and even of fast foods, may well keep us healthy and nourished.

If we are talking about health, it is our beliefs that we must look. We have the most efficient and beautiful physical organs, the most elegant joints and appendages, the most vibrant lungs and the most exquisite of senses. It is up to us to form a body of beliefs that is worthy of our physical image — for we are nourished by our beliefs, and those beliefs can cause our daily bread to add to our vitality, or to add to our cares and stress.

The weight of unfortunate beliefs perhaps falls heaviest on the older segments of the population, for the beliefs have had a longer period of time to operate relatively unimpeded.

Those particular beliefs actually take hold in young adults, so that it seems that all of life is meant to come to its fullest flower in young adulthood, and then from that prestigious position fall quicker and quicker into disuse and disarray.

These ideas do not inflict severe difficulties upon older members of the population, but they also have a vital part to play in the behavior of many young people who commit suicide directly or indirectly. It seems to such youngsters that the pinnacle of life is just at hand, to last upon youthful beauty and youthful achievement, so that it appears that all of the rest of life’s activities must suffer by contrast.

Knowledge through experience is not considered a practical-enough method of learning, so that the skills and understanding that come with age are seldom taken into consideration.

Again, to a certain degree, religion and science — and the medical sciences in particular — seem devoted to encouraging the most negative beliefs about human nature. It is taken for granted that all mental, physical, spiritual and emotional satisfactions become lesser with advancing age. It is taken for granted that memory fails, the body weakens, the senses stagnate, and emotional vividness dims. It is often considered scandalous to even imagine sexual activity after the age of even 40 or 50.

Faced with the kind of a projected future, no wonder many adolescents prefer to die before catching sight of the very first hint of deterioration — the first wrinkle or touch of gray in the hair. What forerunner of disaster such natural signs must seem! And at the other end of the scale, older parents are treated by their grown children as if they themselves were falling into a grotesque version of a second childhood. Many people actually speak louder to older persons, whether or not they have any hearing difficulties at all.

Our entire world of commerce and advertisements, of competition and of business, prolong such attitudes. This is aside from the impact of the entertainment industry, which reflects that same glorification of youth, and that fear of growing old.

There are very definite, excellent side-effects of growing older, that we will also discuss in future blogs — but here I want to assure the blog reader that basically speaking there are no diseases brought about by old age alone.

The body often wears out because it has been used less and less — and that is because little study has been given to the true capabilities of the healthy physical body in the later years of life. that period also contains certain rhythms in which normal healing processes are highly accelerated, and the life force itself does not wear out or lessen within a body. Its expression may be impeded at any time, but the unique energy of each individual is not drained away because of age alone.

We will have more to say concerning older people and their ways of life, and also discuss the many beliefs and ideas that can come almost immediately to their aid. The subject of suicide will also be discussed in a different context, and when I invite my blog readers to start over, I want it understood that we can indeed start over regardless of our age or circumstances.

Each person is so unique that it is obviously impossible for me to discuss all of the innumerable and complicated strands of belief that form human experience — yet I hope here, some way, to present enough “specific generalizations” so that the blog reader can find many points of application as far as our own life is concerned.

In fact, we may discover not just one you, but several you’s, so to speak, each pursuing certain purposes, and we may find out furthermore that some such purposes cancel others out, while some are diametrically opposed to each other. Such cross purposes, of course, can lead to mental, spiritual, physical and emotional difficulties.

Many people believe that it is dangerous to make themselves known, to express their own ideas or abilities. Such individuals may be highly motivated, on the other hand, to become accomplished in some art or profession or other field of activity. In such cases we have two cross-purposes operating — the desire to express oneself, and the fear of doing so.

If both beliefs are equally dominant and vital, then the situation becomes quite serious. Such individuals may try “to get ahead” on the one hand, in society or business or in the arts or sciences, only to find themselves taking two steps backward for every step they take forward. In other words, they will encounter obstructions that are self-generated. If such a person begins to succeed, then he or she is forcibly reminded of the equally dominant need for lack of success — for again, the person believes that self-expression is necessary and desirable while also being highly dangerous, and thus to be avoided.

Dilemmas result in many ways. The person might succeed financially, only to make a serious or faulty business judgment, thus losing the financial benefits. Another person might express the same dilemma through the body itself, so that “getting ahead” was equated with physical mobility — so that it seemed that physical mobility, while so desired, was still highly dangerous.

Such reasoning sounds quite outlandish, of course, to most individuals, but the person in question, say with a disease like arthritis, or some other motion-impairing aliment, might ask themselves the question: “What would I do if I were free of the condition?”

Like the alcoholic’s wife mentioned in my earlier blog, such a person might suddenly feel struck by a sense of panic, rather than relief, thus experiencing for the first time the fear of motion that underlay the problem.

Yet why should motion be feared? Because so many individuals have been taught that power or energy is wrong, destructive, or sinful, and therefore to be punished.

Often playful, rambunctious children are told not to be showoffs, or not to express their normal exuberance. Religions stress the importance of discipline, sobriety, and penance. All of these attitudes can be extremely detrimental, and along with other beliefs are responsible for a goodly number of spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional problems.

Unfortunately, there are also some particular teachings that are sexually oriented, and that therefore show their effects often on one sex rather than the other. Boys are still taught to “be cool,” unemotional, aggressive, and assertive — as opposed to being emotionally warm, cooperative, gregarious but without fake bravado. Boys are taught that it is unmanly to be dependent in any way. They become embarrassed in late boyhood when kissed by their mothers, as a rule — yet it is quite natural to be both independent, cooperative and competitive.

Such young men grow up with the desire to be independent, while at the same time they also experience the natural drive for cooperation and dependence upon others. Many end up punishing themselves for any behavior they consider dependent or unmanly. They are often afraid to express love, or to accept emotional nourishment gracefully.

As a result some such people become severely afflicted with ulcers, so that their stomachs becomes sore and ulcerated at the acceptance of physical nourishment.

Epilepsy is a disease often experienced also by people who have strongly conflicting beliefs about the use of power or energy, coupled with a sometimes extraordinary amount of mental and physical energy that demands it be used.

In many such cases the individuals involved are highly intellectual, and possess obvious gifts that are, however, seldom put to full use. Such people are so frightened of the nature of personal power and energy that they short-circuit their nervous systems, blocking the ability for any purposeful action, at least momentarily.

Because they realize that they do indeed innately possess strong gifts and abilities, these people often seek attention for their disease, rather that for their abilities. They may become professional patients, favorites of their doctors because of their wit and repartee in the face of their affliction. They are determined to express themselves and not to express themselves at the same time. Like so many others they believe that self-expression is dangerous, evil, and bound to lead to suffering — self-inflicted or otherwise.

This particular group or people are also usually possessed by an extraordinary anger: they are furious at themselves for not being able to showcase their own strength and power — but “forced” instead into a kind of behavior that appears sometimes frightening and humiliating.

Individuals who suffer from epilepsy are also often perfectionists — trying so hard to be their best that they end up with a very uneven, jerky physical behavior.

In some instances, stuttering is a very mild example of the same kind of activity. On the one hand some epileptic patients feel a cut above the usual run of humanity, while on the other they perform far more awkwardly than normal persons. Again, many also believe that those with special talents or gifts are disliked by others and persecuted.

This brings us into a conglomeration of beliefs unfortunately connected with romanticism.

These beliefs are centered around artists, writers, poets, musicians, actors and actresses, or others who seem unusually gifted in the arts or in various other methods of self-expression. The beliefs lead to the most dire legends, in which the gifted person always pays in one way or another for the valued gifts of self-expression — through disaster, misfortune,or death.

These concepts have many cousins, so that we actually have an entire family of beliefs that are all in one way or another related.

Foremost, connected with the distortions about creativity and expression, is the belief that knowledge itself is dangerous, evil, and bound to lead to disaster. Here, innocence is seen as synonymous with ignorance. What we actually have behind such a belief is a fear of free will and of making choices.

The more extensive our knowledge, the more aware we are of probable actions, and of the conglomeration of choices that then become available. There are also people, then, with an intense thirst for knowledge who believe that knowledge is indeed good and beneficial, while on the other hand the belief just as fervently that knowledge is forbidden and dangerous.

All of these instances lead, of course, to severe dilemmas, and often pull an individual in two directions at once. They are the cause, also, of many spiritual, emotional, and physical difficulties.

It should probably be noted here also that this suspicion of knowledge is intensified when the female sex is involved, for the legends quite erroneously give the impression that knowledge is twice as disastrous if possessed by a woman. This should be kept in mind whenever we discuss beliefs that are specifically sexually oriented.

It must seem obvious that behind all such beliefs lies the distrust of nature, man, woman, and life itself.

We must also remember, however, that in a fashion beliefs themselves are tools, and that in some situations beliefs that seem quite negative can also clear the way for more beneficial ones. With all of this discussion of negative beliefs, therefore, it is a good idea not to call any beliefs bad or evil in themselves. They are no more bad or evil in their way own, say, than viruses are in theirs. If we look upon them in that manner, we will avoid being overwhelmed by what seems to be an endless parade of negative thoughts and beliefs that can only lead to destruction. Instead, compare the negative beliefs, for example, with the storms that sweep the country: they have their purposes — and all in all those purposes tend to promote and support life itself.

While we are still in the middle of such discussions, however, remind oneself that any situation can be changed for the better. Remind oneself constantly that the most favorable solution to a problem is at least as probable as the most unfortunate “solution.” Remind oneself also that despite all of our worrying, the spirit of life itself is continually within our experience, and forms our physical body.

Large numbers of the population do indeed live unsatisfactory lives, with many individuals seeking goals that are nearly unattainable because of the conglomeration of conflicting beliefs that all vie for their attention. They are at cross purposes with themselves.

This leads not only to private dilemmas, illnesses, and seemingly futile relationships — but also to national misunderstandings, entanglements, and world disorders. There are indeed ways of breaking through such conflicts, however, and those broader avenues of expression, peace, and satisfaction are available to each individual, however unfortunate the entire picture seems to be.

It is possible, therefore, to improve our health, and to deepen the quality of all or our experience.

In terms of earthly life as we understand it, it is overly optimistic to imagine that eventually all illnesses will be conquered, all relationships be inevitably fulfilling, or to foresee a future in which all people on earth are treated with equality and respect. For one thing, in that larger framework mentioned in earlier blogs, illness itself is a part of life’s overall activity. Disease states, so-called, are as necessary to physical life as normal health is, so we are not speaking of a nirvana on earth — but we are saying that it is possible for each blog reader to quicken his or her private perceptions, and to extend and expand the quality of ordinary consciousness enough so that by contrast to current experience, life could almost be thought of as “heaven on earth.”

This involves a re-education of most profound nature. All of the conflicting beliefs that have been mentioned thus far are the end result of what I have called before the “official line of consciousness.” Certainly people experienced disease long before those conflicting beliefs began — but again, that is because of the part that disease states play in the overall health of individuals and of the world.

What we are going to have to do, then, is start over. It is indeed quite possible to do so, for we will be working with material with which we are intimately familiar: our own thoughts, emotions, and beliefs.

We must start from our present position, of course, but there is no person who cannot better his or her position to a considerable degree, if the effort is made to follow through with the kind of new hypotheses that we will here suggest. These ideas are to some extent already present, though they have not predominated in world experience.

This alternate way of thinking is biologically pertinent, for it should be obvious now that certain beliefs and ideas serve to foster health and vitality, while others impede it.

These ideas are translations of the emotional attitudes of all portions of nature and of life itself. They are better than any medicine, and they promote the expression of value fulfillment of all kinds of life, whatever its form.

We know that we have a conscious mind, of course. We also possess what is often called the subconscious, and this merely consists of feelings, thoughts or experiences that are connected to our conscious mind, but would be considered excess baggage if we had to be aware of them all of the time. Otherwise they would vie for our attention, and interfere with the present decisions that are so important.

If we tried to hold all of those subconscious memories uppermost in our mind all of the time, then we would literally be unable to think or act in the present moment at all. We do more or less have a certain access to our own subconscious mind, however. It is perhaps easier to imagine a continuum of consciousness, for we have a body consciousness also, and that body consciousness is itself made up of the individual consciousness of each molecule that forms all parts of the body itself.

It is sometimes fashionable to say that men and women have conscious minds, subconscious minds, and unconscious minds — but there is no such thing as an unconscious mind. The body consciousness is highly conscious. We are simply not usually conscious of it. Reasoning takes time. It deals with problem-solving — it forms an hypothesis, and then seeks to prove it by trial and error.

If we had to use that kind of process before we could move a muscle, we would get nowhere at all, of course. The other portions of our consciousness, then, deal with a kind of automatic thinking, and operate with a kind of knowledge that takes no time in our terms.

We might say that the varying portions of our own consciousness operate at several different speeds. Translations between one portion of consciousness and another goes on constantly, so that in formation is translated from one “speed” to another. Perhaps we can begin to understand, then, that the whole picture of health or illness must be considered from many more viewpoints than we might earlier have supposed. Many of us have been saturated by conventional, distorted ideas concerning health and illness in general. We might think, for example, of the body being invaded by viruses, or attacked by a particular disease, and these ideas, then, may make us question. We might well wonder why the body consciousness does not simply rise up and cast off any threatening diseases: why would the body allow certain cells to go berserk, or outgrow themselves? The very concept of the immunity system suggests, at least, the disease invader against which the body’s immunity system must or should surely defend itself.

We usually think of our conscious mind as our ego. It is directed toward action in physical life. Many schools of thought seem to have the curious ideas that the ego is inferior to other portions of the self, or “selfish,” and imagine it to be definitely of a lower quality than the inner self, of the soul.

In the first place, it is really impossible to separate portions of the self, and we make such distinctions only in an effort to explain the many facets of the personality. It is generally understood, then, that we do have an ego, directed toward exterior activity, and in those terms we also have an inner ego. It is also conscious, and is the director of all automatic interior activity.

Most people do not realize that they can indeed have access to this inner awareness. This inner ego or inner self should not be thought of as superior to our ordinary mind. It should not be thought of, really, as something separate from our ordinary mind. Our ego and our ordinary consciousness bring into focus all of our physical experiences, and make possible the brilliant preciseness of physical experience.

It is true that physical life represents only one condition of being. We have other kinds of existence, then. The conscious mind is one brilliant segment of our larger consciousness, but it is composed of the same universal energy and vitality that composes all consciousness. There are ways of communicating with the inner ego or inner self, however, and we will discuss some of these in future blogs. It is important, again, to remember that this inner ego or inner self uses a process that is far swifter than reasoning.

When such communications are made, therefore, they often consist of inspiration, intuition, impulses, and deal with feeling far more than with usual logical thinking.

Each person is a vital, conscious portion of the universe. Each person, simply by being, fits into the universe and into universal purposes in a way no one else can. Each person’s existence sends its own ripples throughout time. The universe is conscious at every conceivable point of itself. Each being is an individualized segment of the universe; then, in human terms, each person is a beloved individual, formed with infinite care and love, uniquely gifted with a life like no other.

No animal considers itself a failure, obviously. People, however, often identify with their seeming mistakes, forgetting their abilities in other directions, so that it seems that they are misfits in the universe, or in the world. The conscious mind can indeed have such thoughts because it so often tries to solve all problems on its own, until it begins to feel frightened, overburdened, and a failure in its own eyes.

The inner ego, however, always identifies with its source-identity as a beloved, individualized portions of the universe. It is aware of the universal love that is its heritage.

It is also aware of the infinite power and strength that composes the very fabric of its being. Through being made aware of these facts, the exterior ego can begin to feel a quicker sense of support and nourishment. The knowledge can let it relax, let go, so that it feels its life couched and safe, and knows itself to be indeed a beloved child of the universe, both ancient and young at once, with an identity far beyond the annals of time.

It is a great value, then, that each person remember this universal affiliation. Such a reminder can often allow the inner self to send needed messages of strength and love through the various levels, appearing as inspiration, dreams, or simply pure bursts of feeling. The inner ego draws instant and continuous support from the universal consciousness, and the more the exterior ego keeps that fact in mind, the greater its own sense of stability, safety, and self-esteem.

One of the attitudes detrimental to good health is that of self-condemnation, or dislike of the self. Such attitudes are unfortunately sometimes fostered by parents, schools, and religions. Feelings of self-worth, self-esteem, and pleasure with one’s abilities promote feelings of well-being, health, and exuberance.

The universe actively loves itself and all of its parts. The world loves itself and all of its parts. It is not true that energy is neutral or indifferent. Energy is active, positive, propelled by what can almost be called an instantaneous pleasure with itself and its characteristics.

Despite all concepts to the contrary, energy is indeed at its basis, love. It is also composed of highly charged consciousness that operates almost in a leapfrog fashion, with great bursts of exuberance and vitality. The great — the greatest creative force — that force that is the origin for all physical life — did not suddenly appear once in some distant past, sparking the birth of or reality, endowing it with an energy that could only then run down, or dissipate. Instead at every conceivable point within our universal system.

Each new rose in the springtime is in truth a new rose, composed of completely new and unique energy, utterly itself, innocent, alive in the world.

In the deepest of terms, while each body has a history each moment in the body’s existence is also new, freshly emerging into the world, innocent and unique. While there is indeed pain in the world, it is the miraculous principle of pleasure that propels life itself.

Those who look upon physical life as inferior to some other more perfect spiritual existence do a great injustice to physical existence in general. Physical life is everywhere filled with the universal energy that is its source, so it can hardly be inferior to it’s own composition.

Again, corporeal reality is a brilliant segment of existence. It cannot be inferior to existence. It is because we so often view our world through a system of highly limited beliefs that we so often misread the implications of temporal life.

Such beliefs serve to limit our comprehension, until it seems often that physical life consists of a frantic struggle for survival at every level of consciousness. Such ideas certainly do not foster feelings of security, health, or well-being, and they distort the nature of our physical environment.

That environment is not something separate from ourselves, for us to control. Instead, us and the environment support, strengthen, and fortify each other in ways that often escapes us. All portions of the environment contain their own conditions, but of their relationships to all other portions of the world. They add to the world’s health in other words, and our own vitality — and that of our environment — are everywhere interrelated.

The fetus, for example, is remarkably optimistic, carrying within itself the miniature pattern for an entire human adult, taking it for granted that conditions will be favorable enough so that the entire pattern of normal life will be fulfilled despite any impediments or adverse conditions .

This expectation to grow and flourish is addressed within each atom, cell, and organ, and all of life’s parts contain this optimistic expectation and are blessed with the promise that their abilities will grow to maturity.

Children spontaneously take it for granted that their acts will result in the most favorable circumstances, and that any given situation will have a favorable end result. These attitudes pervade on the animal kingdom also. They are embedded in the life of insects, and in fish and fowl. They are the directions that provide life with purpose, direction, and impetus. No organism automatically expects to find starvation or disappointment or detrimental conditions — yet even when such circumstances are encountered, they in no way affect the magnificent optimism that is at the heart of life.

Even when biological “failures” develop, as with stillborn infants, or malformed ones, the inner consciousness involved does not give up, and even though death results, the consciousness tries again under different conditions. In such cases death is not experienced by the organism as a failure, or as a biological mistake. It is simply felt to be an experience, a discovery, that went so far and no further — but the events in no way impede the vitality and strength of the inner consciousness so involved.

This optimism is reflected in many other areas of life also.

Many birds in their fantastic migrations demonstrate an amazing optimism, traveling thousands of miles to distant shores, almost literally flying by faith, as it were, ignoring all dangers, unbeseiged by doubts. There is no hesitancy, but the sure flight. Birds do not question whether or not the weather will be favorable, the winds fair or foul. They simply fly toward their destination. Even if some birds do fall or die, this in no way impedes or undermines the faith of the others.

Monarch butterflies, in their remarkable migrations, often fly toward land that they have never seen themselves — and yet they reach their destination.

In all such cases there is an inbred biological faith, that courage and vitality, that biological optimism. It acts that same in people, triggering the necessary bodily responses. Only when that optimism is severely tampered with do the physical mechanisms falter. Even then, however, all creatures are sustained by that innate gift, that inner sense of security that not only propels creatures toward life, but safely conducts them past physical life and past death’s doorway.

Our situations can be called extreme — but true extremes are far less fortunate. We have, for example, the extremes of poverty suffered by people in many other parts of the world — a poverty that stunts all kinds of growth, mental and physical, and brings about an early death. Or the extremes of disease, in which children are born without all the faculties needed for life, and — therefore also die an early death. Or those extremes when entire families suffer patterns of tragedy sp whole numbers are wiped out at one time.

There are reasons for such cases, of course. I simply wanted you to know that many very severe extremes exist, that would make our lives seem most favorable in contrast.

There are many, many species that men and women have not discovered, in all the categories of life — insects onward.

There are multitudinous species of viruses and so forth that man and woman have not encountered and recognized, and there are connections between viruses and other species of living matter that remain unknown. There are indeed two different kinds of upward-walking mammals, much like our own species, but much larger, and with infinitely keener senses. They are indeed amazingly swift creatures, and through scent alone they are aware of the presence of man and woman when any member of our species is at all in the immediate area — standing, say, at least several miles away. Vegetable matter is a main diet, though often implemented by insects, which are considered a delicacy.

They have, for that matter, devised many ingenious insect traps, so that hundreds or more can be caught, for many are needed since insects are so small. These traps are often constructed on trees, in the bark, in such a fashion that the tree gum itself is used to trap the insects. The traps appear to be part of the tree itself, so as to protect them.

These creatures do indeed remember, but their remembering operates extremely rapidly – a kind of almost instantaneous deduction that comes as sense data is interpreted. That is, received and interpreted almost at once, or simultaneously.

Offspring do not occur until the individuals are well past the age that we would consider normal for breeding. Otherwise the procedure is the same. With some territorial variation, such creatures reside in many of the world areas on our planet, though their overall population is very small — altogether, perhaps, several thousand. They rarely congregate in large groups, but do have a family and tribal-like organization, with at the very most twelve adults in any given area. As offspring are added, the groups break up again, for they know well that in larger numbers they would be much more easy to discover.

They all use tools of one kind or another, and live indeed in close concord with the animals. There is no competition between them though they could be extremely dangerous if they were cornered, or of their young were attacked.

They grow quite sluggish in wintertime, in very cold climates, and their temperature drops, as is characteristic of hibernating animals, except that their temperature is more sensitive to daily variations, so that on some winter days they can forage for food very well, while on the other hand they may hibernate for even weeks on end.

They have a keen understanding of nature, and of natural phenomena. Language is not developed to any great degree, for their sensual ordinary equipment is so pure and swift that it almost becomes a language of its own, and does not need any elaboration. Those senses possess their own variances, so that without any word such as “now” or “then,” the creature are able to know quite accurately how many living creatures are in the vicinity, how long they have been there — and their experience with time is one that follows the seasons in such a way that they have formed a wordless, fairly accurate picture of the world, including navigational direction.

Christ was not crucified — therefore he did not resurrect, coming out of the tomb, nor did he then ascend into heaven. In the terms of the biblical drama, however, Christ was crucified.

He arose from the tomb and ascended into heaven. The resurrection and the ascension are indeed, however, the two parts of one dramatic event. Dogmatically, arising from the dead alone was clearly not sufficient, for men and women were to follow where Christ led. We could not have a world in which the newly-risen dead mixed with the living. An existence in a spiritual realm had to follow such a resurrection.

Now in the facts of history, there was no crucifixion, resurrection, or ascension. In the terms of history there was no biblical Christ whose life followed the details given. The organization of the church is a historical fact. The power, devotion, and energy the organizational expertise of Christianity, cannot be disputed. Nor can it be disputed that Christianity was based upon great religious and psychic vision. To some extent it involved the intuitional reorganization of subjective, and then objective, realities.

I have told in past blogs, however, that the world of events springs from the world of ideas. It seems certain that “something” happened “back then” — and that if we could go back there, invisibly studying the century, we would discover the birth of Christianity. But Christianity was not born at that time. We might say that the labor pains were happening then, but the birth itself did not emerge for some time later.

Jewish shepherds represented the placenta that was meant to be discarded, for it was Jewish tradition that nourished the new religion in its early stages before its birth. Christ, as we know, was a common name, so when I say that there was a man named Christ involved in those events, I do not mean to say that he was the biblical Christ. His life was one of those lives that were finally used to compose the composite image of the biblical Christ.

The mass psyche was seeking for a change, an impetus, a flowering, a new organization. The idea of a redeemer was hardly new, but ancient in many traditions. As I stated before, the part of the world was filled with would -be messiahs, self-proclaimed prophets, and so forth, and in those terms it was only a matter of time before man’s and woman’s great spiritual and psychic desires illuminated and filled up that psychological landscape, filling the prepared psychological patterns with a new urgency and intent. There were many throw-away messiahs — men or women whose circumstances, characteristics, and abilities were almost the ones needed — who almost filled the psychic bill, but who were unfitted for other reasons: They were of the wrong race, or their timing was off. Their intersection with space and time did not mesh with the requirements.

We must understand the long trail of psychological reality that exists before we have a physical event. We must understand man’s and woman’s need and capacity for fulfillment, dramatization and psychic creativity.

There is nothing that happened in those times that is not happening now in our own: We have numberless gurus, people who seemingly perform miracles ( and some do). So there were in those days some rather disconnected events that served as the focus point for great psychic activity: People wanted to believe, and their belief changed the course of history. It doesn’t matter that the events never happened — the belief happened. And the belief was man’s and woman’s response to intuitional knowledge, to inner knowledge, and to spiritual comprehension.

These all had to flow into reality, into psychological patterns through man’s and woman’s own understanding. They had to flow into the events of history as he or she experienced history. They had to touch the times, and they did so by transforming those times for later generations.

I want it understood that the accomplishment is breathtaking in its grandeur — more so because man and woman formed from his and her psyche such a multidimensional spiritual drama that its light struck upon this or that person, this or that place, and formed a story more powerful than any physical event could be — hence its power.

In those terms, however, again, the gods of Olympus were as real, for all of men’s and women’s riches are representations, psychic dramatizations, standing for an inner reality that cannot be literally expressed of described — but can be creatively expressed or represented.

Too-literal translations of such material often lead to grief, and the creative thrust becomes lost. The great mystery, of course, and great questions, rest in the nature of that inner reality from which man and woman weans his and her religions, and in the power of the creative abilities themselves that bring them into birth. Such activities on a large scale are the end result of each natural person’s individual relationship with nature, and with nature’s source.

Women do most things as well as men — they actually outperform men in many areas, both intellectually and intuitively.

For example, women test as equal to men in sensitivity to sounds; clear, logical, and rational thinking: accurate reading and writing; memory for design in areas like drafting and illustration; number memory; tweezer dexterity, foresight, as in the flow of ideas; subjective personality links to specialized work.

Women exceed men in such areas as finger dexterity; accounting aptitudes; rate of idea flow, as in sales, writing, and teaching; observing small changes in physical detail; non-tangible ideas requiring complex vocabulary, as in medicine and law; the ability to visualize three-dimensional relationships, as in engineering.

According to these tests, us poor guys exceed women in only two categories: structural visualization, as in engineering, mechanics and building; and measures of simple muscular strength.